60 Gardening Under Glass 



for growing plants; but unless the water can 

 cjuickly run down through the soil when there 

 is too much in it — why, of course, you can't 

 prevent there being too much. Hence the 

 fact that good drainage is essential. 

 "But," you ask, "isn't the soil like the 

 weather — must you not take it as it comes .'^" 

 By no means! You can make your soil what 

 you want it, and making soil is almost as much 

 fun as potting plants, sowing seeds, and cutting 

 flowers. It took me some time to find that out, 

 however. In my first experiences with frames, 

 I simply used the common garden soil I had. 

 But by experimenting in my own little green- 

 house, and by visiting others, I began to get an 

 idea of what should be done; and by the time I 

 had my big house, I knew pretty well what 

 should be done, and prepared in advance. 



The Materials for Soil Bnilding 



The first step was to collect the "materials" 

 needed to build my soil with, as follows: loam, 

 sod, humus, in the form of leaf mould; sand. 

 These I deposited in piles near the greenhouse. 

 In getting ready for a small glass garden it would 

 be a convenience to have a barrelf ul or two of each 

 put in the work house or in the "potting shed." 



For loam, use by preference the best soil ob- 



